Elton Britt

Biography

Elton Britt (born James Elton Baker; June 27, 1913 – June 22, 1972) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician, who was best known for his western ballads and yodelling songs.

Biography

Britt was born on a farm near Marshall, Arkansas. His father was James Baker, and he had two younger sisters, Gretta Sanders and Druse Baker, and a younger brother Arl Baker.
Britt was born incredibly sick, and therefore wasn’t named until he was over a year old, however he was eventually given the name James, after his father and his middle name, Elton, after the man who looked after his health as a baby. Because of his poor health, Britt was allegedly spoiled copiously as a baby and was given the nickname “cute.”
Britt started playing guitar aged 10, most likely inspired by his family who all also had an interest in music, and eventually Britt would discover Jimmie Rodgers, which inspired him to learn to yodel, which he learned to do exceptionally well, his breath control being so good that he could often hold his breath for minutes at a time underwater.
Britt’s career kickstarted in 1930 when Britt was hired to replace Hugh Ashley (or Hobart Walton) in singing group The Beverly Hill Billies.
Britt came up with his stage name after someone hired at The Beverly Hill Billies production company said that James Baker didn’t sound “hill-billy enough.”
Britt recorded over 600 sides and 60 albums for RCA Victor and other labels in more than a 30-year span, and is best known for such hit songs (several of which he wrote or co-wrote) as "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)", "Detour", "Chime Bells", "Maybe I'll Cry Over You", "Pinto Pal", and the million-selling wartime hit "There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere". The recording had sold a million discs by 1944 and it was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Britt became the first country artist to be awarded a gold disc.
He would also partner with fellow yodeller and country singer, Rosalie Allen, going on to record multiple songs and albums together.
A singer, bandleader, radio and television performer, songwriter and yodeler, he starred in at least two films in the late 1940s, and had hit records as late as 1968 with "The Jimmie Rodgers Blues".
Britt would take frequent but temporary retirements, during one of which he briefly made a career mining uranium in Western America, leading his then wife, Penny to write the song "Uranium Fever", which in 1955 he would go on to sing. In 1960, as part of a publicity stunt, Britt briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, something many believe was a stunt pulled by his then-manager, Aubrey Mayhew.
Britt has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, given on February 8, 1960.
On June 22, 1972, five days before his 59th birthday, Britt suffered a heart attack while driving his car and died in a McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, hospital the next day. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Broad Top, Pennsylvania.

In popular culture

His song "Uranium Fever" is featured in the Bethesda Softworks video game Fallout 4 on the in-game radio station Diamond City Radio. The song would again be featured in the Amazon Prime Video Fallout adaptation in the season two episode "The Other Player".